And Then “End of August, First Week Of September” Turned Into Most Of September

September 24, 2012

Looking back over the last month and a half, it seems like there’s been too much work and not enough fun. Oh sure, there’s fun slicing up images for the web and getting comfortable using SASS like everyone was doing three years ago, but that’s a short-sighted and sad type of fun. I’m happy I’ve devoted some time to revisiting these photos: even though they were taken mostly in the same month, they seem ages old.

When Nicole travels and there’s trouble getting Zoe to bed, I keep in mind that the sometimes annoying things she does will slowly stop as she gets older and I’ll pine for those times. There will be no way she’ll want to do these things in a few years and it will be outright creepy of me to ask her to recreate them when she’s a teenager (“You used to love to sleep on papa’s arm/shoulder/pillow.”).

I personally supervised the purchasing of coffee making supplies for Nicole’s new salon. I enjoyed keeping it local, and bought items from Modern Coffee in beautiful downtown Oakland (“Our sidewalks smell like pee!”).

Not to sound too much like these, but Nicole bought English muffins for our Saturday breakfast knowing that they would work perfectly with the (also round) shape of the Canadian “bacon” she also purchased. It made for a pleasing breakfast sandwich.

The good: First Friday in Oakland makes our (often desolate) neighborhood come alive!The bad: They are turning the beautiful but long-abandoned building near us into a massive housing complex.

Probably the only reason I’ll go into the city these days is for coffee. Sightglass: done. It’s absurd that I have never been there before. Also: Four Barrel: done.

Park life.

Getting so good at riding her tricycle.

Becoming flawless at doing that thing at the playground that stresses me out, but also teaches me not to stress out so much.

Nicole was in Texas successfully trying out to be part of an elite hair squad but it was picture day at daycare, and I was in charge of “styling” Zoe’s hair, which means combing out the tangles in the bath, which neither her nor I nor the neighbors must like. Sometimes I’m certain that I’m going to pull her scalp off…THOSE CURLS COME AT A TERRIBLE MAINTENANCE COST. But the day of the “shoot” I did as I was instructed by my professional hairstylist wife: brush and spritz and plump and hope for the best. They turned out great.

My wife was arriving home that evening, but I misjudged the window between her coming home and relieving the babysitter and how much I could party with the work boys, who were saying goodbye to my beloved friend Arky. I returned from a pleasant night out only to sit in my car listening to Modest Mouse for what had to be two glorious hours.

We were so proud of Nicole for accomplishing something that took a lot of time and sacrifice and talent. So proud that I stole this photo of hers.

There is an adorable tea party/birthday iPad app. It’s both awesome in its cuteness and attention to detail, but terrible because even tea parties are being digitized.

I used to think, based on going there when they first opened, that (Pepples) Donut Farm was a terrible place for brunch: gross, bland food in a bus station-like environment. Through the power of Peter and Elysse I was able to turn completely around my opinion: it is fantastic place full of variety and great coffee. Man, I could go for those biscuits and gravy right now.

Zoe had the right idea: wrap it all up in a pancake and give it a Bob Pollard hand.

It felt like a beautiful fall day, and I walked around Rockridge with Zoe.

Then we drove to Reno with Nicole for work. I had a beautiful beautiful drink that once consumed made me feel like being a father wasn’t that stressful or demanding, and that work, while filled with stresses and deadlines, was just another bucket of time that I allot myself per day. I think this drink was called a “margarita”.

Nicole worked while we found a playground. It soon turned to be 400 degrees out, and we were both itching to read the junior novelization of Tangled that we had bought the night before.

Nicole got a hot tip about a place we tend to dig: slightly hippie-ish, vegetarian places. It was a little heavy on the “funky” side and the food took forty minutes to arrive, which is pretty unpleasant when you have a 2 1/2 year old with you. And they were out of apples. And ginger. The place was weird, but they did pioneer putting hummus on tacos. It tasted like the past & the future.

When she grows up, she wants to be a sweetie pie.

Another day at the park.

My friends at Modern Coffee changed my life. Did you know, and I’m sure you do and I was just the last person to know this, that you can get a "1 & 1" which is a shot of espresso and a macchiato, and it is completely affordable and delicious and is quickly or as slowly ingested as your morning rush would dictate?

Another First Friday and the gentle light of the sun setting while I drank a coffee and watched Zoe dance and all seemed perfect in the world.

I kind of got cock-punched by work, which resulted in my not going to Chuck E. Cheese with these two. Later that night I ate a banana instead of their leftover pizza.

I hung out with Scott, as we tend to do, and he bought Zoe a “basketball” which she immediately loved.

We reconnected with old friends, which is the best kind of reconnecting to do. (Full disclosure: Nate is currently one of my favorite writers.)

Fun in the park.

Five years without an incident.

Nicole was off to Vegas and it was coincidentally bath time.

Take that junkie who stole our iPod! You can’t take the music away!

The night Zoe was up from 1-5am. I think my brain melted a little. Luckily Nicole came back the next day.

Somewhere along the way Zoe acquired a jean jacket.

That was September. Nicole is currently in New York for six days, but that’s for another week.